


Watching From The Water

by deductionz



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, First Kiss, First Meetings, Fluff, Human John, Johnlock - Freeform, Johnlock Fluff, Love at First Sight, M/M, Merman Sherlock, Omegle, Omegle Roleplay, Underwater, Water
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-28
Updated: 2014-07-28
Packaged: 2018-02-10 14:38:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,080
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2028780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deductionz/pseuds/deductionz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sherlock, a creature of the sea, is infatuated by the handsome human he sees on the shore one evening, and he takes a big risk by introducing himself.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Watching From The Water

**Author's Note:**

> Based off an Omegle RP I did which was cut off mid-conversation. I've recently fallen in love with Mer!Lock + Human!John and I just had to give it a shot. Please drop me a comment if you were my partner and recognize this as our work!  
> *I lost all progress on this story the first time around, so this is a second attempt... Finished the story after the conversation was lost.

Sherlock watched from afar as the people took night walks on the beach. It was pitch black with the exception of their flashlights, so he wasn't particularly afraid of being seen. Here, he could indulge in his desire to observe the humans and their bizarre and, rather plain, lives. Watching from the water, Sherlock floated lazily on his back, occasionally slapping his widely-fanned tail on the surface and having to stifle a chuckle at the fear on the unsuspecting faces of the beach-dwellers.

* * *

"Oi, John, don't go too far out, or the sharks will get ya!" John's friend laughed as he turned left towards the road off the side of the beach. John rolled his eyes and chuckled as he ignored his friend, waving goodbye to him before walking along the edges of the shore, water lapping at his bare feet. He was stuffed after eating out with his mates. Now, it was close to midnight and he thought he'd visit the beach. Usually he was out here during the day, hence the reason his skin was so perfectly sun-kissed. But tonight, he just wanted to relax. Maybe have a swim, lay out on the sand in the cool air, without so many people out. 

A new arrival on the beach caught Sherlock's eye- someone who he hadn't seen at the beach during the night before. The man was quite beautiful, for a human, and Sherlock stealthily swam closer to the shore in an attempt to get a better look at him. Upon this, Sherlock discovered the hidden treasures of this human's body hidden from so far away. He was tall, though shorter than Sherlock, with sandy blonde hair windswept atop his head, muscles rippling beneath flawless skin, and blue eyes that seemed to reach out and grasp the moon's subtle glow. Sherlock quickly found himself in a state of, what some might call, infatuation with this man. This new human reminded Sherlock of one of the gods in his childhood storybooks, in a way. He knew it was incredibly dangerous to observe from any closer, but it was a risk he was willing to take. 

John kept walking along the beach, feet splish-splashing in the shallow water with every step he took. He had a content smile on his face, finding a certain peace. Sometime later, he realized that the night walkers on the beach were trickling out, going home; the light of their flashlights replaced with the shimmer of moonbeams on sand and ocean. John rather liked the affect of glimmer and shine it offered. Maybe he'd come out more at night. There was a movement he caught out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head, looked out to the water and stopped walking. It seemed like a person out in the water, hauntingly still. John looked around. 

"Um, hello? Someone out there?" He asked curiously. Were they watching him? 

Sherlock quickly submerged himself in the water, panic trickling through his chest like a poison. His heart was pounding hard against his rib cage, and his stomach began to twist in knots. His brain was scrabbling at any ideas in a vain attempt of forming a plan. He had never been spotted by one of the humans before, let alone one that caught his eye with their beauty! Finally, after a minutes worth of exasperated and desperate trains of thought, Sherlock decided to expose himself to the human's eyes once more. Slowly, he let himself rise out of the water, careful to only let up to his stomach show. He wasn't sure as to what the reaction to his tailfin would be just yet, so he kept that hidden well below the darkened waters. 

For a while, John squinted out at the sea. Maybe he'd imagined it? He could have sworn he saw a mop of curly hair out in the water. Maybe it was just something silly, like a jellyfish. Just as he'd been about to walk along the beach again, something, or rather someone, emerged from the sea. It was a man. John blinked, offering a lopsided smile.

"Ah, so you're the one following me, then?" John chuckled. "How long have you been out here?" He asked while looking around, expecting to see the man's friends coming out from separate hiding places. "Are you here by yourself?"

Sherlock smiled and splayed his arms about the water, running his fingers over the surface. The human had a very lovely voice. Frankly, everything about this new human was beautiful to Sherlock. 

"Er, yes, I'm alone here," Sherlock hummed, brushing the soaked curls away from his powerful eyes. He swam closer to where the land met the ocean, but not close enough to expose his secret. 

"Don't bother looking around, I told you, I'm here alone," he chuckled, following the human's gaze. "What's your name?" Sherlock inquired, bobbing in the scarce feet of water, while John stood fairly stiff on the sand. 

John tilted his head, and looked back at the other, offering a sheepish grin. He looked almost ethereal, like he'd been born to be in the water. The man's upper torso seemed like a swimmer's build; with wide, muscular shoulders and crisp muscle trim. John's eyes widened fractionally when he realized he was staring at the other's lithe form and pale, milky skin. His eyes didn't have much less of an affect on John, either. 

"John. I'm John, you?" The blonde watched as the other swam closer, something almost glittering beneath the water behind him. "Think you've got a big fish swimming around you," He laughed, a twinkle in his eye as he plopped himself down on the ground, digging his toes into the sand. 

"I suppose you could say that," Sherlock smiled slyly, tossing a glance over his shoulder at the little secret hidden just below the surface. "My name's Sherlock, by the way. It's lovely to meet you, John." He said with a genuine smile. John was a fairly readable man, and his eyes not attempting to mask just how they were washing over him just as well as the warm waves crashing on the shore. Sherlock did not by any means think he was attractive, but he couldn't help but feel a bundle of warmth and anticipation inside him when he realized that John thought just the opposite. 

 _Where did this man come from?_ John thought to himself. He was rather charming, even if John was just hearing it in the other's voice and seeing it in the way his eyes drew John in with their magnificent, steel irises. He seemed a bit demure; almost otherworldly. 

"Sherlock, that's quite a unique name," John said, decidedly liking the smile sent his way. He squinted through the water. He couldn't quite tell, but he'd almost wondered if the other was swimming nude. John laughed, thinking obviously this was the case. "Damn, mate, you're brave. Is that why you're not coming out of the water? Are you starkers under there?" He seemed impressed as he looked around. "Lucky no one's around right now," He chuckled. Sherlock couldn't help but grin at John's failed attempt at a deduction. Heart beginning to race like an olympian in his chest, Sherlock decided now was as good a time as ever to reveal his secret to John. 

 "John, I think you've misunderstood," Sherlock purred, letting his long, emerald tail rise out of the water and curl over his back. It caught the shimmer of the moonlight, the layers of blue and green scales reflecting the light like shiny new coins. 

John sat still for a few minutes, watching the tail rise out of the water. For one off moment he thought perhaps it was some kind of bizarre fish rising up behind Sherlock. But then, the even more bizarre reality set in, that Sherlock had a tail. A fish tail.

"It's beautiful..." he says, before he even knows the words are out of his mouth. "So you're some kind of-?" John scratches the back of his head. He doesn't want to be impolite but he's not entirely sure of the etiquette of the situation. "I'm not quite sure what to call you," He admitted, grinning sheepishly.

Sherlock's face lit up with a smile, laced with relief. The fear of John running away, calling him a freak just like those he knew beneath the water, evaporated. 

"The correct term would be merman," he beamed. "You don't... You don't think it's...?" The muscles in Sherlock's arms flexed as he shifted his weight, uncertain.

"Well, it is a bit..." His eyes sweeping over Sherlock's form. "I mean, I've never seen anything like it before," he says a bit breathlessly. The sheer beauty of the moon shimmering on the scales makes him a little breathless, not to mention the medical and scientific implications of this. "But that's fantastic," he says, grinning. "Do you have gills?" is the first question of many that forces itself past his lips. 

"And  _I,_ " Sherlock began, "Have never been this close to a human before," Sherlock drew himself farther out of the water, using his extraordinary upper body strength to drag him onto the sand beside John. "I do indeed have gills. Would you like to see them?" Sherlock asked, turning on his side to reveal the thin lines just above his hips pursing as they took in air after an eager nod from the curious human. "I also have them up here," Sherlock whispered, not wanting to break John's concentration, for he was staring intently at the breathing devices as they worked and moved. Brushing a layer of damp curls away, Sherlock revealed an identical set of gills on either side of his neck, just below his ears. John's eyes traveled from one set to the other, mouth slightly agape as he took in this magnificent miracle of nature.

John's hand moved forward almost without his permission, but he catches it in time and lets it drop to the sand. "So you've never talked to a human before?" He asked, gaze flickering between all the magical pieces of Sherlock's iridescent body.

With a flick of his tailfin, Sherlock drew himself up, flush against John; using his damp, pale hand to examine the warm flesh of his new human friend. "Never," he whispered, locking eyes with John. His pupils were wide with fascination. "I've only watched them from afar..." he trailed off, exploring all the parts of John so foreign to him.

"Well, I-" he looked into Sherlock's eyes, transfixed for a moment. He raised his arms to give Sherlock better access. Heaven knows that he would be doing the same to Sherlock if he didn't have any sense of personal boundaries. "Why me?"

Sherlock ran his long, bony fingers over John's legs, fascinated by the body parts that he himself did not have. "I came much closer to the shore than I usually do, because you're so different from the others that I have observed before, and when you caught me watching you... I couldn't bring myself to run away. You're fantastic, John," he admitted with a breathy laugh, tracing his fingers over the bones in John's knee. 

John grins, "You're something fantastic yourself," he says. He surreptitiously tried to move his legs together, in case Sherlock's hands were to wander in a particular direction. He itches to touch Sherlock himself, but there's something a little too intimate about running his hands over Sherlock's skin as Sherlock does the same to him. "So, are humans thought as myths by merpeople, or does that only go one way?" John implored while Sherlock inspected a patch of freckles on John's ankle. 

Chuckling deeply, Sherlock shook his head. "No, we're all quite aware of those who walk on land. My group is anyway." He explained, shrugging slightly. Not taking his eyes of John's tanned skin, Sherlock flicked his long, emerald tail into the human's lap. "You can touch it if you want, I don't mind," he mumbled.

John doesn't look at Sherlock's face as his hands move all in a rush to hover above Sherlock's tail, his fingertips then gently drifting over the scales. Each shining, individual piece was only the width of a quarter, and there had to have been billions of them. "Gorgeous," he says into the comfortable silence, and then presses his lips together, running his palms first downwards, towards the fin at the end. "So you keep yourselves hidden, then?" he states more than asks, carefully running his fingers over the join of fin and scales. 

Running his hands smoothly over John's calf, Sherlock marveled at the rippling muscle beneath the skin. Nodding, he couldn't help but feel a twitch of anticipation in reply to the tender touch of John's warm hand on his cold, now dry, fin. "Apparently not very, seen the fact you spotted me," he hummed slyly.

"Hey, you admitted that was all your doing," said John, smiling up at Sherlock for a moment, and then, finished with the lower half of the tail, dragged his palms upwards. He placed his hands on Sherlock's hips, fingertips tracing the transition between skin and scales. "But I'm glad you did," John's mouth curved with a small smile. 

Sherlock's hip gills flared at the gentle sweep of the human's hand, and he couldn't keep himself from locking eyes with the man. "Really?" he asked in a breathy whisper, placing his trembling hand over John's, indulging in the new feeling of skin-to-skin contact.

John is struck momentarily by the intensity of Sherlock's gaze, and his eyes flicker down to his parted lips, before he smiles, "Of course, you're the most amazing person I've ever met. And that's not just because of the tail." 

Returning John's warm grin, Sherlock playfully slapped John's thigh with his tail, but winced at the contact. His tail was drying out from being out of the water for so long, the dry sand and breeze definitely not helping. "John, could you possibly..." He didn't entirely know how to ask for this kind of assistance. "I need to get back into the water, and not having legs doesn't particularly make it easy for me to move around on land. Could you take me there?" He asked sheepishly, biting his lip. 

John looked Sherlock up and down, then stood up. "Sure," he said, picking Sherlock up carefully, one hand under his tail, the under wrapped around his bare back. "Like this?" John asked, smiling.

Sherlock wrapped his long, pale arms around John's neck and shoulders, clinging close to the strong man. He looked into John's eyes, smiling a bit apologetically, and nodded. "That's perfect, thank you," he replied, his extensive tail draped over John's grasp, fanned-fin trailing in the sand.

John carried him to the water, wading into about his own waist height in an effort to make it more comfortable for Sherlock. "There you go," he says, a bit reluctant to let go, but he does anyway, easing him into the water. Relishing in the cool, crisp temperature of the bobbing waves on his body, Sherlock loosened his grip on John and slipped out of his arms, diving under the surface. He swam around John's legs, secretly watching the beautiful man from below the water. John laughs as Sherlock twists around his legs, turning in a circle to watch him under the waves, completely graceful in his element- literally. 

Reemerging, Sherlock playfully squirted a mouthful of water at John, and his gills flexed as he laughed loudly. He took John's hand and pulled him farther out into the moonlit waves. "Come on!" he laughed, slapping the surface of the water excitedly with his fin. John spluttered at the fountain of water that was spurted at him, and swiped a hand over his face, letting Sherlock tug at him. He splashes Sherlock back with his hand, not that it would have much effect. "I'm a bit more clumsy in the water, not like you," he admits, smiling as Sherlock smoothed his scales. 

Hopping onto John's back, Sherlock wrapped his strong arms around the human's torso, laughing wildly as he swam around with his new companion. Sherlock couldn't help but notice how wonderful John was to him, even though they had just met a little less than an hour ago. He was so gentle with his delicate scales, observant, intelligent, and handsome. The more Sherlock looked at the man, the more he fell in love. He was immediately drawn in by the constant smile on John's face, and was totally captivated by the deep blue of his irises. To be brief, Sherlock thought John was absolutely perfect.

On an adrenaline-fueled whim, Sherlock pulled John beneath the surface, where he was safe; looking at his beautiful, innocent face under the water. Leaning forward, he placed his lips flush against John's, gently cupping the man's stubbly face in his slender hands. 

John managed a breath before he was pulled down into the water, and he screwed his eyes shut, reaching blindly for Sherlock. He found his hands and laced their fingers together, and found himself surprised with the feeling of another mouth on his own and his head supported by agile fingers. It's a unique experience, being kissed under the surface of the ocean, he thought. Blindly, John reached both arms outward, coming up to wrap around Sherlock's neck.

Sooner rather than later, John's lungs began to ache with the need for air, but he ignored it. The intensity of the kiss heightens with the lack of oxygen, and the desperation was delightful. He let his tongue dart out to sweep across Sherlock's pinkened lips. Everything tasted of salt.

Sherlock sensed John's dire need for air and brought him slowly to the surface, never untangling from each other's grasp. Upon breaking the barrier between air and sea, John's eyes shot open and he gasped hungrily for air, tiny droplets of water clinging to his eyelashes. Sherlock watched him calmly, the cool breeze making him stiffen in John's arms, silently searching for an answer as to what to make of all this. 

John took another long, urgent breath before relaxing in Sherlock's arms, still clinging to him. "Well," he said slowly, "We seem to have gotten a bit carried away there. What do you think?" he asked, biting his lip. Curling his tail around John, Sherlock leans his forehead against the human's, planting a soft, gentle kiss on the warm lips of his new companion. 

"I don't mind."


End file.
